Bat the Ball is a phonics game that incorporates “The Great American Pastime,” baseball. It works best with a large group of children, but a single child can play as well. In the game, a pitcher throws a ball to the player, who must form a word using a digraph on the ball and one or more of the vowel spellings on the bat to earn runs. After three outs, the second team is up at bat. To play Bat the Ball, you will need to make 30 paper balls and 10 paper bats using the pattern provided on the Scholastic website. You will write digraphs on each ball and vowel phonograms on each bat. You will also need to designate three areas of the room you play the game in as bases and another as the home plate.
The Alphabet Race is another game that tests a child’s knowledge of phonics. You can also play the Alphabet Race anywhere as you don’t really need any supplies to start a game. To play, designate a finish line and then have all your children line up in a horizontal line. Starting at the end of the line, give each student a digraph or phonogram. The student can move one step forward for each word that he is able to rattle off using the digraph or phonogram. The first person who reaches the finish line wins the game.
After you’ve taught your child a particular digraph or phonogram, if you have some old magazines or newspapers lying around, you can put them to good use by playing Scavenger Word Hunt. To play, all you have to do is have your child search the newspaper or magazine for words that contain the phonics sound he just learned. Have the child cut out or circle the phonics sound. If you are playing the game with more than one child, you can make it a contest, so that the child who collects the most phonics sounds wins.
For Spelling Basketball, you will need a portable basketball hoop or a trash can and flash cards with words that have simple phonics sounds. Help the child read the word out loud and tell you how many phonics sounds are in the word. For each phonics sound that the card contains, the child will get to take a shot. If he misses, it’s okay. The point of the game is to help the child learn how many phonics sounds are in each word and associate the sound of the word with the written word.